Halo Crown
by darkwaterseraphim
Summary: Edward is a "vegetarian" vampire in the tiny town of Forks. His life is peaceful, but then a human girl threatens to destroy his peaceful lifestyle. But now she doesn't seem so human. What is she? What does she want?
1. First Sight

**Author's note: Okay, the majority of this I got directly from Stephenie Meyer's **_**Midnight Sun**_**(the downloadable one on her website). I'm trying to make it original, but know that I'll get lazy and slip in some paragraphs straight from Stephenie Meyer's work(I'll have these be underlined; hey, it's just beginning, don't blame me for wanting to skip the boring parts, besides, i've tailored some to my own purposes...hehe...) I PROMISE THAT MY NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE ALL MOI!**

1. First Sight

This was the time of day when I wished I were able to sleep.

High school.

Or was purgatory the right word? If there _was _any way to atone for my sins, this ought to count toward the tally in some measure. The tedium was not something I grew used to; every day seemed more impossibly monotonous than the last.

I suppose this _was _my form of sleep-if sleep was defined as the inert state between active periods.

I stared at the cracks running through the plaster in the far corner of the cafeteria, imagining patterns into them that were not there. It was one way to tune out the voices that babbled like the gush of a river inside my head.

There was a new girl that had been added to the student body. She seemed ordinary enough to me. The males were already imagining love because she was something new to look at, to experience. She was new, yes, but still plain and ordinary.

Only four voices did I block out of courtesy rather than distaste: my family, my two brothers and two sisters, who were so used to the lack of privacy in my presence that they rarely gave it a thought. I gave them what privacy I could. I tried not to listen if I could help it.

Try as I may, still...I knew.

Rosalie was, as usual, thinking about herself and admiring herself in the reflection off someone's glasses. Emmett was brooding over a wrestling match he'd lost to Jasper during the night. And Jasper...

...was suffering.

Alice called my name, asking how Jasper was. We were able to have private conversations, and I answered her in the typical _yes _or _no _fashion that we had. I was glad that I couldn't speak to her aloud. What would I say?

Two weeks had passed since our last hunting trip.

Jasper was very dangerous now.

At that moment, a small girl paused at the end of the closest table to ours, stopping to talk to a friend. She tossed her short, sandy hair, running her fingers through it. The heaters blew her scent in out direction. I was used to the way that scent made me feel-the dry ache in my throat, the hollow yearn in my stomach, the automatic tightening of my muscles, the excess flow of venom in my mouth...

And my brother was letting his imagination run. He was imagining himself going over, as if to murmur in her ear, and then-

I kicked his chair. Our gazes met, and then, he looked down. I could hear his mind having a civil war.

"Sorry," Jasper muttered.

I shrugged.

Alice tried to smooth things over, but Jasper denied her that. He turned his gaze to the small windows under the eaves around the long room. So Alice stood, knowing that Jasper was in no mood to continue, and left.

_ Edward Cullen._

My eyes flicked to the sound of my name being called. To me, thoughts are like words spoken aloud. But I knew this was a thought.

My eyes locked on a pair of wide, chocolate-brown eyes surrounded by a heart-shaped face. I'd been seeing the face all day, though I'd never laid eyes on it before that moment. Every human had been thinking of it-her, really. Isabella Swan, the only daughter and child of police chief Charles Swan. She preferred the nickname "Bella"...

I looked away, bored. It took me a second to realize that she had not been the one to think my name.

_Of course she's already crushing on the Cullens_, I heard the first thought continue.

The thoughts originated from Jessica Stanley-it had been a while since her internal chatter had pestered me. It was incredibly relieving when she'd overcome her infatuation with me. I'd wished, at the time, that I could explain to her _exactly _what would have happened if my lips, and the teeth behind them, had gotten anywhere near her. That would have silenced those annoying fantasies. The thought of her reaction almost made me smile.

_Fat lot of good it will do her_, Jessica went on. _She's really not even pretty. I don't know why Eric is staring so much...or Mike._

She mentally cringed on the last name-her new infatuation. Mike Newton may be blind to Jessica, but to Bella he was most certainly not. This put a mean edge to Jessica's thoughts, though she was outwardly cordial to the newcomer as she explained to her the commonly held knowledge about my family.

I tried to block the inane chatter out of my head before the petty and the trivial could drive me mad.

"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan," I murmured to Emmett as a distraction.

He chuckled under his breath. _I hope she's making it good_, he thought.

"Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed."

_And the new girl? Is she disappointed in the gossip as well?_

I listened to hear what this new girl, Bella, thought of Jessica's story. What did she see when she looked at the strange, chalky-skinned family that was universally avoided?

It was my responsibility to know this girl and her reaction. I was the lookout. If someone suspected or guessed correctly at our true nature, I was the one to warn our family. We disappeared in the hopes of becoming nothing but a scary, paranoid memory.

As I listened, I heard nothing. I was listening intently beside Jessica's internal monologue continued to fathom. How peculiar. Had the girl moved?That didn't seem likely, as Jessica was still babbling to her. I looked up to check, feeling off-balance. Checking on what my extra 'hearing' could tell me-it wasn't something I ever had to do.

Again, my gaze locked on those same wide brown eyes. Yet this time, something registered. There was something off about those eyes. She was looking at us as Jessica was still oozing the local gossip about the Cullen clan. Thinking about us would be normal.

But I couldn't hear a whisper.

Inviting warm red stained her cheeks as she looked down, away from the embarrassing gaffe of getting caught staring at a stranger. It was good that Jasper was still gazing out the window. I didn't like to imagine what that easy pooling of blood would do to his control.

The emotions had been as clear on her face as if they were spelled out in words across her forehead: surprise, as she unknowingly absorbed the signs of the subtle differences between her kind and mine, curiosity, as she listened to Jessica's tale, and something more...fascination? It wouldn't be the first time. We were beautiful to them, our intended prey. Then, finally, embarrassment as I caught her staring at me.

Her brown eyes were odd. Brown eyes often seem flat for their darkness. Yet hers were deep and almost mesmerizing somehow. She blinked slowly, and I noted that her eyes gave me the impression of a feline.

Though her emotions had been so clear in her odd eyes, I could hear nothing but silence from the place she was sitting. Nothing at all.

I felt a moment of unease.

Not once in my lifetime had I ever not heard a mind. Had something changed in me? I felt fine-the exact same as I always did. I listened harder.

All the voices I'd been blocking were suddenly shouting in my head.

_...wonder what music she likes...maybe I could mention that new CD..._Mike Newton was thinking, two tables away-fixated on Bella Swan.

_Look at him staring at her. Isn't it enough that he has half the girls in school waiting for him to..._Eric Yorkie was thinking sulfurous thoughts, also revolving around the girl.

_...so disgusting. You'd think she was famous or something...Even Edward _Cullen_, staring..._Lauren Mallory was so jealous that her face, by all rights, should be dark jade in color._ And Jessica, flaunting her new best friend. What a joke..._Vitriol continued to spew from the girl's thoughts.

_...I bet everyone has asked her that. But I'd like to talk to her. I'll think of a more original question..._Ashley Dowling mused.

_...maybe she'll be in my Spanish..._June Richardson hoped.

_...tons left to do tonight! Trig, and the English test. I hope my mom..._Angela Weber, a quiet girl, whose thoughts were unusually kind, was the only one at the table who wasn't obsessed with Bella.

In horror films, there is often a sound effect of the main character being surrounded. This is accomplished by a whispering far ahead, a snapping of a twig from behind, or a ghostly breath.

It was much like that when I finally caught her mind. It was so quiet, I could barely catch it, and when I did, it was gone again. How was it moving? And it didn't sound like any language I knew-although, it was too quiet for me to really pin any distinct sounds, much less language. I was almost getting dizzy from chasing the internal voice.

I, of course, could hear what the girl said when she spoke to Jessica. I didn't have to read minds to be able to hear her low, clear voice on the far side of the long room.

"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I heard her ask, sneaking a look at me from the corner of her eye, only to look quickly away when she saw that I was still staring.

Usually, peoples' thoughts are a similar pitch to their physical voices. Yet her physical voice didn't help me catch her mental one.

_Oh, good luck, idiot!_ Jessica thought before answering the girl's question. "That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed.

I turned my head away to hide my smile. Jessica and her classmates had no idea how lucky they were that none of them particularly appealed to me.

Beneath the transient humor, I felt a strange impulse, one I did not clearly understand. It had something to do with the vicious edge to Jessica's thoughts that the new girl was unaware of...I felt the strangest urge to step in between them, to shield this Bella Swan from the darker workings of Jessica's mind. What an odd thing to feel. Trying to ferret out the motivations behind the impulse, I examined the new girl one more time.

Compared to her classmates, the girl was fine china to wood. My impulse could easily be the strong for the weak instinct. My eyes traveled over her. I could see the pulsing of her blood through her veins beneath her skin...but I shouldn't dwell on that.

It was unbelievably frustrating! I could clearly see that it was a strain for her to sit there, to make conversation with strangers, to be the center of attention. I could sense her shyness from the way she held her frail-looking shoulders, slightly hunched, as if she was expecting a rebuff at any moment. And yet I could only sense, could only see, could only imagine. There was nothing but silence from the very unexceptional human girl. I could hear nothing. Why?

"Shall we?" Rosalie murmured, interrupting my focus.

I tore my gaze from the girl in shame. I didn't like to develop interest in her or fail at my mind reading. No doubt, when I did decipher her thoughts-and I _would _find a way to do so-they would be just as petty and trivial as any human's thoughts. Not worth the effort I would expend to reach them.

"What's with the new one? Is she scared yet?" Emmett asked, waiting for my response. I shrugged, and he didn't press for more information. We got up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria.

I slouched off to my biology class. Would the monotony never end? In the little classroom, I let my books spill across the table. I was the only student with a table to himself: humans aren't smart enough to _know _they fear me, but instinct will tell them to steer clear whenever possible. The room filled slowly-almost reluctantly.

_Bella seems just as shy as me. I'll bet today is really hard for her. I wish I could say something...but it would probably just sound stupid... _Angela Weber's thoughts came into my mind.

_ Yes! _Mike Newton thought, turning in his seat to watch the girls enter.

Yet where Bella stood, nothing. Her thoughts were like backwards electrons. Instead of being right next to the nucleus, they were as far out as they could get. But they were hard to catch a whisper, much less find them.

She came closer, walking down the aisle beside me to get to the teacher's desk. Poor girl; the seat next to me was the only one available. I moved my books aside. Perhaps, though, sitting beside her, I'd be able to flush out her secrets...not that I'd ever needed close proximity before...not that I would find anything worth listening to...

Bella Swan walked into the flow of the heated air that blew toward me from the vent.

Her scent hit me like a drunk driver, like Emmett's huge fist, like a million knives in my body. Her thoughts whirled around me. I was surrounded.

All traces, all hints of human consciousness vanished. My humanity was gone. I was a predator on the hunt, and she was my prey. The calculations had begun. The witnesses were already collateral damage, her odd eyes were no longer such, her mysterious disappearing thoughts were no longer important.

She would not go on thinking them much longer.

Thirst burned me with a torturous fire in my throat. Venom welled in my mouth. My muscles coiled in anticipation of springing.

Not a full second had passed. She was still taking the same step that had put her downwind from me.

As her foot touched the ground, her eyes slid toward me, a movement she clearly meant to be stealthy. Her glance met mine, and I saw myself reflected in the wide mirror of her eyes.

What I saw in her eyes saved her life.

She didn't make it easier. When she processed the expression on my face, blood flooded her cheeks again, turning her skin the most delicious color I'd ever seen. The scent was a thick haze in my brain. I could barely think through it. My thoughts raged, resisting control, incoherent. She walked more quickly now, as if she understood the need to escape. Her haste made her clumsy-she tripped and stumbled forward, almost falling into the girl seated in front of me. Vulnerable, weak. Even more than usual for a human.

I tried to focus on what I'd seen in her eyes.

The first, most obvious, was the face, a face I recognized with revulsion and hate. The face of the monster in me-the face I'd beaten back with decades of effort and uncompromising discipline. The second was nearly undetectable, almost an afterthought.

Her irises were slightly slitted like a cat's, and her eyes were most definitely in the almond shape of a cat.

The scent swirled around me with the dizzying thoughts, scattering those decades of discipline and resistance, nearly pulling me to this girl.

No.

My hand gripped under the edge of the table as I tried to hold myself in my chair. The wood was not up to the task. My hand crushed through the strut and came away with a palmful of splintered pulp, leaving the shape of my fingers carved into the remaining wood.

Destroy evidence. That was a fundamental rule. I quickly pulverized the edges of the shape with my fingertips, leaving nothing but a ragged hole and a pile of shavings on the floor, which I scattered with my foot.

Destroy evidence. Collateral damage...

Twenty innocents...I hadn't killed an innocent before, but now I was plotting to kill twenty at once...

The face of the monster in the mirror mocked me.

If I killed the girl first, I would have only fifteen or twenty seconds with her before the humans in the room would react. Maybe a little bit longer, if at first they did not realize what I was doing. She would not have time to scream or feel pain; I would not kill her cruelly. That much I could give this stranger with her horribly desirable blood.

But then I would have to stop them from escaping. I wouldn't have to worry about the windows, too high up and small to provide an escape for anyone. Just the door-block that and they were trapped.

It would be slower and more difficult, trying to take them all down when they were panicked and scrambling, moving into chaos. Not impossible, but there would be much more noise. Time for lots of screaming. Someone would hear...and I'd be forced to kill even more innocents in this black hour.

And her blood would cool, while I murdered the others.

So the witnesses first then.

I mapped it out in my head. I was in the middle of the room, the furthest row in the back. I would take my right side first. I could snap four or five of their necks per second, I estimated. It would be noisy. The right side would be the lucky side; they would not see me coming. Moving around the front and back up the left side, it would take me, at most, five seconds to end every life in this room.

Long enough for Bella Swan to see, with those feline eyes, briefly, what was coming for her. Long enough for her to feel fear. Long enough, maybe, if shock didn't freeze her in place, for her to work up a scream. One soft scream that would not bring anyone running.

She was coming back, and the fire urged me to put my plan into action. She would sit down inches from me, and it would be then that I would kill the children to my right. The monster in my head smiled in anticipation.

Suddenly, fresh, clean air filled my lungs. I didn't know who had sent it my way or how, but it brought on a wave of clarity. It was then that I saw the face of the monster within me and Carlisle's face. There was no resemblance between the two faces. They were bright day and blackest night.

There was no reason for there to be a resemblance. The similarity in the color of our eyes was another matter-a reflection of a mutual choice. And yet, though there was no basis for a resemblance, I'd imagined that my face had begun to reflect his, to an extent. My features had not changed, but it seemed to me like some of his wisdom had marked my expression, that a little of his compassion could be traced in the shape of my mouth, and hints of his patience were evident on my brow.

All of what I had gained would be lost in a matter of seconds and stay lost, forever.

I knew that Carlisle would not judge me. My choice would hurt him deeply, but he would forgive me and love me anyway.

Bella Swan sat down in the chair, and her scent once again tortured me. The misery of what I was going to do and the hurt I would cause hurt almost as much as the fire in my throat. I leaned away in disgust.

Why did she have to exist? Why had this aggravating human ever been born? She would ruin me. I turned my face away from her, as a sudden fierce, unreasoning. hatred washed through me.

Who _was _this creature?

Why had she come here!

I didn't want to be the monster! I didn't want to kill this room full of harmless children! I didn't want to lose everything I'd gained in a lifetime of sacrifice and denial!

I wouldn't. She couldn't make me.


	2. Fading Fast

**Author's note: okay, if it was in Midnight Sun(downloadable on the stephanie meyer website) and unavoidable for me NOT to have it(due to my storyline), then I tried to paraphrase it. So if you've read Midnight Sun already and you see that I wrote something kinda like what she wrote, then just know that I'm making it as original as I can make it.**

2. Fading Fast

Something sank in.

Creature? Why did I think that?

Bella Swan swished her long mahogany hair, nearly choking me with its fiery scent. Could she be insane? The temptation to kill was nearly overpowering. I was surprised I wasn't vibrating from trying to resist killing her.

It was so sad that it was only her scent that drew me to killing her. Without the scent or a helpful breeze, I would be a murderer, and my family would have to vanish.

The realization of not having to breathe hit me almost as hard as the girl's scent. How idiotic. I didn't have to breathe. When I cut the flow of air, it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders, and though her scent was still in my lungs and on my tongue, I was not being tortured with new fire. I wouldn't be able to resist too much longer, but perhaps I could last an hour. An hour until the girl's death. An hour until a room full of innocents was voluntarily emptied. An hour is not so long.

The monster was laughing maniacally. My mind was set.

I was becoming uncomfortable with not breathing. Despite my mind-reading, my sense of smell would tell me best if there was a nearby danger.

_....block out the rest.... _A vision of metal coils filled my view. I nearly jumped. Bella's internal voice had been a shout compared to her whispers, and yet it was still quiet. The girl in question was leaning across the table, her hair spilling across her shoulders to make a nearly opaque curtain between us. I wished to read her eyes. What was she thinking now? Metal coils...I hadn't felt any strong emotions except for a longing to become...more extended. Was she shy? Did she know that her eyes spilled her thoughts out?

Though she was my she-devil, I was the possessed demon. This frail piece of porcelaine threatened every good thing I strived for and tortured me with her lack of thoughts. I realized that I hated her with the kind of emotion that can only be gleaned from a century of living-even if the life is a non-life. I clung to the emotion; it was the only true thing that distracted me from the thought of how she would _taste_-

No. I would kill her at the end of the hour. And when that hour ended...she would leave to her next class. I would have to catch her somehow...get her alone with me. A new plan unfolded in my mind. I could introduce myself politely-I could lead her to the parking lot and spirit her away into the dark of the forest. And there she would face a painless death, though I hated her so.

The thoughts of several males intruded on my mind, reminding me that human boys were watching Bella closely. Saved by that margin. I was closing in on resisting one hour. Could I make it two?

My own thoughts reminded me of someone at a fundraiser. The pain of the burning kept me from even smiling.

The girl would go home alone, to an empty house. I knew where she lived. And even if I couldn't find her for whatever ridiculous reason, I could still listen for the whispers. If she were at home, her house was not near enough to anyone to have a neighbor running to help a screaming girl. Most parents didn't get off until about five...plenty of time . I knew exactly that this was the responsible way to go about the whole ordeal. With her alone, no one would die, and I would get to enjoy the heat of her soft, delectable-

No. Wait. Hate her now; kill her later. My unjust hatred would multiply when she was dead, but I knew full well that it would be me that I would hate.

I continued to imagine ways of killing her. Snapping her neck could be swift, painless. Perhaps I could even give her morphine beforehand. I tried to plan only strategy, but once, when I slipped, I imagined killing her. Then and there I nearly lunged at her throat to relieve the pain in my own.

As I re-focused from my slip, the girl peeked through the wall of hair. For a brief moment, I was peeking through that hair at an angry boy. The image was vague and blurred with images of many other males she'd seen that day.

_...wonder...but no..._I managed to grasp. There had been many other words in the thought, but they were too quiet and fast for me to catch.

From my own perspective, I could see that she was not frightened. She turned those feline eyes from me, her cheeks transforming from white to scarlet like my Volvo going from zero to eighty. I accidently inhaled and was about to reach out-

-when the bell rang.

I fled from the room at a too-fast pace. The condemned girl waited in the room, all thoughts still revolving around her.

My car became my sanctuary. From her eyes, her thoughts, and ,above all, her scent. It felt as though her scent was an infliction such as lupus or cancer. Something incurable that eats you inside out. The clean, damp air was like the cure-all that slowly cleaned me of the disease. Clarity and sanity returned.

I didn't have to kill the child. I didn't have to creep into her home while she was alone and destroy her. I didn't have to tear my mother and father's hearts out. Esme didn't deserve a son that killed such a young girl.

I thought back to when I had wanted to protect the Swan girl from Jessica's thoughts and the irony. I would never be that girl's protector.

It was about then that I remembered Alice. Where in God's name was she? Hadn't she seen me mauling an innocent child? Why hadn't she come to my aid? What kept her from helping me in my time of need? Would I really not have done anything to the girl?

No. How foolish and arrogant to even entertain such a thought. Of course I would have killed her.

I reached my mind out towards Alice. There she was, concentrating on Jasper. She was flicking between five and ten seconds into the future so rapidly that I thought I might actually have a seizure. I wanted to ask her about the Swan girl and what she had seen, and about what I should do. Yet, at the same time, I was ashamed to admit to anyone that I was so weak.

So I couldn't let any of them know. The monster screamed at me in pain and frustration. I would have to do something to avoid the she-devil. I could convince Mrs. Cope to change my schedule.

I rushed across the campus to the little office building. Bella Swan should not come here. She had no reason to. I would avoid her like the pestilence she was. The office was empty except for Mrs. Cope.

"Mrs. Cope?"

She jumped a little before looking up.

"Oh," she gasped, "Hello, Edward, what can I do for you?" _Don't be so silly. He's young enough to be your son. Such silly ideas..._

I pulled out all my charm and began. I leaned in, gazing deeply into Mrs. Cope's eyes.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my schedule," I said in a soft voice. Her thoughts were becoming caught in each other, as though I was making them become a snarl.

I heard her heart pound roughly against her ribs.

"Of course, Edward," she said, "How can I help?" She put off romantic fantasies with the thought of me being young enough to be her son. Wrong, I'm old enough to be her great-grandfather and infinitely more dangerous.

"I was hoping to change out of my biology class. Maybe something like physics?"

"Is there a problem with biology? Physics can get hard, you know."

"No, I've actually studied all the material being taught. I rather like a challenge."

I tried to keep her eyes in my gaze, but for a swift moment, she looked away thinking, _They should just go to college. Perfect grades, prefect answers...it's like they're cheating at everything._

She turned back to me, "I'm sorry, Physics is actually full. You know how Mr. Banner hates having more than twenty five kids in one class."

Then why did Bella Swan have to be in my biology class?

"I won't be any trouble."

_Of course not, not a perfect Cullen._

"I know, but he's very particular about the twenty-five kids thing. And he only has so many chairs-"

"Then I'd like to drop the class."

"D-drop?" _What? Why would he want to drop a class he can just get more_ A'_s in? Is there a problem with Bob?_

"Yes, drop, as in, I don't have the class any more."

"But then you won't have enough credits to graduate next year."

"I can catch up next year."

"I'm sorry, Edward, I have to get a parent's signature for you to completely drop a class."

It was about now that the door behind me opened. Their mind didn't attract my interest, so I continued wearing down on Mrs. Cope's resistance. I could tell that I didn't have to much farther to go.

I leaned in, making my eyes wide and innocent. I used a smile to soften my face, not letting my teeth be a marker to what I was. And lastly, I smoothed out my voice to be as attractive as possible.

"Please Mrs. Cope? Isn't there another hour I can switch to? Sixth hour biology isn't my only option, is it?"

Her heart went back to pounding against her chest. _To young, to young_, she chanted.

"I'll see what I can do. I-I can talk to Bob-Mr. Banner, about "

Someone walked in quickly, bringing with them a gust of wind. I froze, waiting for her to leave. Suddenly, I could hear a snippet of a thought-a whisper I could only recognize as a thought.

I turned slowly to face her eyes, those feline eyes. My control was wavering.

She stood with her back against the wall, her long, dark tresses hung a little past her waist, not exposing those chocolate eyes. And those feline eyes were half-lidded as though she was utterly bored with my display of cowardice. She took in my ferocious glare and did not seem frightened.

The wind had only brought her scent to my attention, but I realized then that her scent had begun to coat the room. My throat ached in the wake of the fire.

What a trade. Two lives for twenty. I could easily deal with Mrs. Cope's death.

The face of my father stopped me short. I cut off the air flow to my lungs. I turned back to Mrs. Cope, and, though her instincts were setting off alarms, she didn't actually suspect a thing.

"Never-mind, then. I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help."

I spun and fled. I fled from that she-devil that haunted me. I tried not to dwell on the heat of her tiny-fragile body as I passed it. As I passed, I glanced at her. In that moment, she gave a cursory nod, as if to applaud my performance. I ran to my car, barely stopping when a boy almost noticed that I had run so quickly there.

I slid into my Volvo, gasping at the fresh air that would help me keep my sanity. My siblings turned to alarm.

"What the hell happened to you?" Emmett demanded at the same time Alice said, "Edward, you can't."

I didn't answer them. I was fleeing from the devil-woman who was walking out of the office building and towards her truck. The engine wasn't going fast enough-oh, no, it didn't want to go from zero to eighty _now_.

As soon as I hit the highway, the tennis match began. The Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie gazed at Alice.

"You...you can't leave, Edward," Alice protested.

The spectators turned to me.

"And if I stay...?"

Alice focused on the vision of trees and saw it waver. It became a forest path to the little Swan residence where I was stepping in through the back door. I was creeping up behind on the girl-she was doing her hair in the living room.

"Oh," was all Alice said. We were pulled into a vision of Bella Swan's profile and my own. She was saying something harsh, and I looked very much like a child who'd gotten his hand caught in a cookie jar. The vision changed to one of Bella running through the forest with a broken arm. Bella with a broken arm and a slash down her back.

"Stop!" I yelled. How could I be so sadistic? Would I really toy with her so evilly?

"Sorry," Alice murmured, her black eyes wide.

The monster was already celebrating the victory of a successful hunt. But the vision in Alice's head shifted back to a forest, but this one had a highway running through it. The monster climbed into a hole and sulked while I felt Alice's sadness wash through me.

"I'll miss you. We all will," she said, "Drop us off here. And, Edward, you'll do the right thing. She's his only family."

The car squealed to a stop. My siblings got out of the car. I didn't watch for them to disappear into the woods. I was gone.

I lay in the snow. I was not wet like a human would be. My cold skin did not melt the frozen flakes around me. I gazed at the starry sky, wishing I could really _see _it.

I had been gone for so long-six days. It was inexcusable. What would I blame for my absence? What were Carlisle and Esme blaming for my absence? No, I should be worried about Emmett and Jasper. They loved excusing me with hemorrhoids and other "embarrassing" sicknesses. What would I have when I got back? Herpes?

The musings of Emmett and Jasper's pranks did not last long. I was all too soon pondering the vision that I couldn't rid myself of.

Tanya had said that I would confront this problem. I knew she was right, but the problem was _when_ I would confront it. The vision she had of me was a brave warrior who was afraid of nothing. The fact that I hid like a coward made me feel even worse.

I missed my family. Coming home would make them happy. Esme would definitely want to see me again soon. My eyes wandered to two stars that shone red-brown to my sharp eyes. They matched perfectly with the memory of Bella's cat eyes. I stood. One way or another, I was going to stay with my family-annoying girl or no.


	3. Magnolia

3. Magnolias

My siblings had more than taken it upon themselves to be there for me.

"We should pick up the pace," Alice said, "She'll be here in a few moments. Are you sure you don't want to sit upwind from her?"

"_Yes_," I said for the nineteenth time. How annoying this was.

Jasper shot me a knowing look as he registered my mood. Our places always seemed polar opposites. Now he was the responsible one and I was the one wanting to kill. Neither of us said it, but I could hear the smugness in Jasper's mind.

My mind turned to the hundreds of childrens' thoughts. There was not one person thinking about us. Odd, did the girl really not fear me? Hadn't she wanted to identify with someone-make sure she was not the only one I treated so hostily?

I knew that she had seen my glare-there didn't seem to be anything those feline eyes wouldn't catch, even if they were half-lidded.

"Anything?" Rosalie asked me. Emmett and Jasper leaned forward in anticipation.

"She didn't say a thing...But maybe they aren't thinking about the situation now...?" I wondered, continuing to sift through the hundreds of minds. I caught the quiet buzzing of Bella Swan's internal voice, but nothing more. No one was thinking of any Cullen.

"Wouldn't they think of the situation because you're finally back?" Jasper pointed out. Inside his mind, he was uneasy. He wanted me to keep listening for more.

"You know, you probably didn't scare her too much," Emmett grinned.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"I wonder why," he mused. I could hear his thoughts concentrate on her weird way of thinking. He tried to quiet his thoughts. I shook my head to show him his failure. He was too loud in real life to quiet his thoughts.

"She's coming in, like, now," Alice warned, "And she's got some weird people with her. _Try _to look human."

"Human?" Emmett said, "I'll show you..._human_." He held out a fistful of snow that had been squeezed into a ball of ice. His aim was at me, but I saw the real direction of his thoughts. He lobbed the iceball right at Jasper, breaking the iceball and making a loud cracking noise. Jasper wiped away the dirt filling with an evil grin on his face.

"You don't want to know what kind of snowball you'll be getting," he said, smiling. I chuckled at what he had in store for Emmett, though it was a completely vile surprise. I actually felt a little bad for Emmett. Alice giggled histerically, registering the situation in the future. I kept grinning despite myself.

Jessica was impatient with the girl. She was slow in picking out items for her lunch. I wondered if she was indesicive or didn't really want to eat the chunky brown mush that was supposed to be beef and noodles. Mike Newton was with the girls, and I could hear from his thoughts that the beef and noodles choice was the least appitizing.

Also from his thoughts were fantasies of dating Bella. I rolled my eyes and focused on Jessica's thoughts. The vile things he thought were disturbing and angering me more than they should.

"Are you sure you don't want spagetti?" Mike asked.

"I'm sure," she said in a quiet voice. I was listening so intently, that when her thoughts came into my mind, I barely noticed that they were thoughts.

_I won't regret._ It took me a moment to realize that the emotion had come from the girl's thoughts. She was trying to trick herself. She was practically choking over her thoughts. I glanced over at her face, which betrayed nothing.

Why did it bother me that the girl was sad? Why did it bother me so much that she was bottling up her emotions so tight that they didn't show on her transparent face or in her clear eyes? Why did it bother me that I was so protective? And, above all, why was I so pissed that Mike was becoming so crude with his thoughts?

_She's about to look_, Alice warned.

Alice threw some ice at Emmet, and I forced a smile. In return, Emmet shook his hair out at the girls. Alice used her tray to protect herself, laughing as she did so. We all joined in, my laugh more forced than the others.

_...looking at them again. She's facinated with the Cullens. _Jessica thought dryly. I looked up at Bella, but she was already hiding her eyes behind her hair.

I probed in the silence where her mind should be-for it should not be weaving around the room like a crazed bee. Silence was all I could hear.

Something occured to me. Even when I focused on one mind, I could still hear other minds. Yet when I focused on her silence, I heard nothing. She was like a soundproof room that I could go into.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica said, interrupting my thoughts. I pulled away from Bella's silence, for there was no mind there. It was, in fact, absent. I could hear jealousy in Jessica's mental tone. She was a shallow woman-feigning friendship to seem like the nice, popular girl.

"Does he seem...angry?" Bella asked. She peeked up at Jessica, but I couldn't see her eyes clearly, not even through Jessica's view. This cleared up a question: she _had _seen my reaction to her. But it didn't answer to if she'd confided in anyone.

"No. Why should he?" Jessica hated that she couldn't say yes, but she could find out why Bella of all people would want to know that. Had I done or said something to hint at my dislike? Had I done something to indicate an interest in Bella?

"I-I'm not sure that he likes me," Bella said quietly. From across the cafeteria, I could swear I'd heard her voice shake. Was it fear? Sadness? I didn't like the prospect of having hurt her. She looked down at her food and stabbed at the mush lazily.

"The Cullens don't notice anyone enough to like them," Jessica said. In her mind, she raged. Bella had stood out enough for me to notice, and this irritated her beyond belief. "He's still staring."

"Will you stop looking at him?" Bella snapped. It was a quiet snap, and Jessica giggled at how Bella could sound angry while being about as loud as a breath. But she looked away anyway.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity before lunch ended. Immediately and impulsively, I got up and followed Bella closely to the door. As my hand reached to keep the door open, my fingers brushed her hair.

Bella stopped dead, and I nearly ran into her. Then, I held my breath. She turned slowly. I could've sworn her eyes had a red tint to them.

"Don't...touch...my hair..._ever_. Got it?" she hissed. I nodded, amused at her anger. What did she think she could to to me?

As she stormed off to Biology, I cursed myself. Muslims forbid women from showing certain things. This can include certain amounts of skin and even hair. What if she followed some weird religion where it was wrong to have a man touch your hair? Or...something to that effect...Why was I even worrying about it? She probably loved her hair quite a bit and didn't like others touching it.

I walked to class slowly, savoring the clean air. When I got to class, Bella was already at our table, head down, drawing something. I approached our table loudly, knowing that humans liked noise to announce approach. My books collided with the table as I let them fall, making more noise. She didn't look up from the rather detailed picture of a dragon fighting a large flaming bird. I dragged my chair out, and she drew her hair over her far shoulder, as though to keep it from my grasp. Apart from that, nothing changed.

Why didn't she look up? Had I greatly offended her by my 'accidental' touch? She was probably afraid. I would have to make sure that she would believe last week had been a fluke of some-

_"Never let them touch it or cut it," an old woman-Nana-was telling me, "They'll know if they get a good enough feel. And-"_

I felt breathless as I realized that, once again, my mind had caught the girl's, if only temporarily. The only reason why I could hear anything at all was because she was so angry and worried, worried about someone finding out. Perhaps she wore a wig? But my instinct told me otherwise. I'd seen enough chemo patients wearing wigs to know otherwise. I sat and studied her hair for a moment. I could only conclude that it seemed thicker than normal hair. Truly, there was no real difference except for thickness and rediculous and unfashionable length. Most girls wore their hair much shorter.

"Hello, my name is Edward Cullen," I said softly and gently, smiling apologetically in a way that wouldn't show my teeth. "I'm sorry about your hair. I was just reaching for the door."

The girl's hand froze from sketching. It was a very good picture all things considering. I found the bird's swan neck a little too thin, but perhaps that was her interpretation. She looked up, a wonderment in those feline eyes. With her so close and lack of her scent, I wondered how I could ever want to hurt her. She seemed so fragile, so gentle, that hurting her in the slightest should be illegal.

She said nothing, confusion and suspision tightening her gaze.

"You must be Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you," I said, holding out my hand. She took my hand in the instant that I recalled that I was many degrees below her own temperature. Maybe she'd think that I naturally had cold hands.

As she shook my hand I saw even more confusion in those lidded brown eyes. She let go.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, curious.

"I think everyone in this town knows your name," I chuckled. There had been rumors for weeks before her arrival.

She scowled, as though this news disturbed her. If she was as quiet and shy as I suspected, then she wouldn't like this.

"I ment, why did you call me Bella?"

"Do you prefer Isabella?" The first day she'd corrected everyone of that.

"No, I prefer Bella," she said quickly. She blushed, keeping a little crease in her brow, "But I think...my dad calls me Isabella behind my back. Everyone knows me as that."

"Oh," I said as I looked away.

Observant little human, aren't we? I vowed to no more slipups. She was too fast for someone I was assuming to be afraid of and slightly angry at me. I was uneasy.

And out of air.

It wasn't like I could just inhale her scent, but with a lab today, I couldn't just ignore her. I was trying to make a good impression on her. I leaned into the aisle and inhaled.

Even without inhaling through my nose, I could still taste her scent. It was just as agonizing as it had been the week before, almost even more so. It was a real struggle to compose myself. I succeeded just as I was ordered to begin the lab.

I felt a little stiff as I turned to the girl and smile.

"Ladies first?" I asked. She looked up at me and seemed to pale a little. Both her eyes and expression seemed completely blank, though. Well, this idiot was smiling with his teeth.

"Or I could begin," I said slowly, immediately hiding my teeth.

"I can begin," she said quietly, turning as red as apples. If I bit into that neck, she'd be much sweeter than any apple-

I nodded and looked away when she busied herself with setting up the microscope. I leaned away to take in another breath.

"Prophase," she said loudly, almost the volume of a normal person.

"Do you mind if I take a peek?" I asked unthinkingly, as though it made a difference to me, as though I cared, as though I were like her. I reached for the slide-she had already removed it- and our hands brushed. I heard the snap of static electricity jump between us. The girl's hand pulled away and she gasped. I saw her wipe the slide against her jeans and hand the slide to me with her other hand, reaching across her own body to do so. I took the slide and watched as she stuffed a tissue into her fist.

"Are you okay?" I asked, a little panicked. She looked up, a little alarmed at my tone. She stuffed the tissue into her pocket and showed me her palm.

She had palms that were slightly more pink than the rest of her. There were the creases in them that were normal for a person, but there was not the cut I had been expecting. Instead, my eyes were drawn to the maroon and indigo veins that pulsed with her heartbeat.

"I thought I'd cut myself," she said, shrugging, "But I guess it was a false alarm." I glanced at her darkwash jeans. There were too many discolorations to tell if she was telling the truth. Why people buy such expensive torn up rags I cannot fathom.

"Careful," I warned, "You might get an infection." Thank you, Captain Obvious, is there anything else you can tell her that she doesn't know?

"Thanks," she said, blushing deeply, and I realized that I was still holding her hands.

I slid the 'prophase' slide into the microscope and glanced at it. Huh. She'd been right.

"Prophase," I agreed. I switched slides, keeping from looking at her slowly fading blush. She smelled to good and was too close to keep my mind away from that blush for long. But I mentally whipped myself into action. I forced myself to write my findings on the first line.

She might have cut herself, but there was no evidence of it. Did that mean that she didn't like the ice of my hands and was trying to be polite about it? Had she cut herself elsewhere? This would be impossible, for if it was so, she wouldn't be alive now.

"Anaphase," I said as I wrote it on the second line.

"May I see?" she asked. I looked up. She didn't seem repulsed or afraid. She looked like...like she was at ease with someone like me. I slid the microscope over to her, wondering why her eyes were so relieved and happy.

She glanced into the microscope, nodded, and removed the slide. We traded slides, and she observed this new one. She didn't seem to notice that I avoided touching her now.

"Interphase," she said quickly. Without my needing to ask, she pushed it a bit in my direction. It was as though I'd passed through an invisable barrier that made me acceptable to her. For some reason, I felt as though not many people passed through this barrier. I felt silly for feeling genuinely _honored_.

We continued like this, with one word answers, occasional locking of the eyes, and bright red blushes. We finnished quickly, and Bella went back to sketching the dragon and phoenix. She seemed to tire of this and flipped to a different picture.

Mike Newton's thoughts drew my attention. He was all piss and vinegar, thinking swords at me. Interesting, he didn't care that I seemed to be getting close to Bella. It was even more interesting that my thoughts and feelings were mutual.

I focused on Bella again. She wasn't a she-devil any longer, but she was like a faerie or a changling that caused mischeif-even if the mischeif ended up causing terrible havoc and calamity to come upon someone. Some color drew my eyes to her picture.

She was color shading a rather spectacular picture. A young woman was whirling to face the observer. Her expression was caught in pure hate as she glared. She had long black hair that was in a rather realistic swish. She had light olive gold skin and brown eyes the same shade as Bella. Bella was painstakingly shading in the dress. I wondered if she would also shade in the background of the forest, too.

It wasn't that I was blind to Mike's thoughts. Bella was pretty, but in an interesting way. She was an old-fashioned beauty. She would've been better off in my time with that face. She had a very European feel that was thrown off by those eyes-they were too cat shaped to be thought of as Asian. I couldn't stop thinking about how happy they'd looked a few moments ago-

-and were now looking at me now with a puzzled and embarrased expression. Bella had put her hands over her picture, obscuring the black-haired woman with the violet dress.

I stared back at her, wondering what she seemed to have found that made her so happy a few moments ago.

Mr. Banner interrupted our stare with some idle comments. All that I gleaned from it was that Bella was highly intelligent. Then, he left, and I searched my mind for something to say.

"It's too bad about the snow," I said lamely. How stupid. I was talking about the weather to this girl who seemed to live in a world of fantasy.

"Not really," she said absentmindedly. I smirked breifly at the irony as I wondered when her mind would be back to grace me with a peek into her world. But her answer did surprise me.

"You don't like the cold," I stated, not bothering to ask.

"It's not that I don't like the cold. I just don't care," she said blandly, turning her face to gaze at me with curious eyes. I was caught in those pools of chocolate. My nose gave me a paradox of wisteria.

"Did you get contacts?" she asked abruptly, as though she already knew the answer. This annoyed me greatly. Why should she ask me this?

"No," I said abruptly.

"Sorry, I thought there was something different about your eyes."

I felt cold as I realized that she knew that there was something wrong with me.

She was still gazing at me. I shrugged and looked away. She'd noticed my eyes. They were gold after my binge last night. I'll be surprised if any of the local hunters comes back with anything this year. Had I been able to read her mind, I would know to say yes. But I hadn't.

"So, why did you come to Forks?" I demanded. It was rude of me, but I didn't want the focus on me any longer.

Her eyes became wide, and I listened to her silence. I was very surprised when I heard a whisper of her thought there. Had I shocked her mind into returning? It was a whisper that sounded like a forgein language, when I focused on it, it seemed to move. Her silence was making me curious-a fire that was quickly making my throat seem more like a dull candle. Her expressions and answers were getting interesting.

"M-my mother got remarried," she said quickly, her eyes becoming sad.

Perhaps she was lying, and her move had been about something else entirely. Perhaps he had been abusive. I felt helpless, wanting to help her somehow. "When did it happen?"

"Last September," she sighed. She shook her head and changed the picture on her sketchbook to a science fiction picture. A delicate girl was connected by her head to a computer by a million or so wires while a male doctor cried over her. She defined a few lines and changed to yet another picture, this one of a happy couple in a field. It wasn't too defined, but it looked like the woman was up above while the man held up his arms as though he'd thrown her there.

"You don't like him," I concluded, fishing to know why she'd been so afraid.

"Phil is just fine," she said a little sharply as she rubbed her forhead-was she getting a headache? "A little young maybe, but nice enough."

I began to build the scenario a little. I needed more materials.

"Why didn't you stay with them?"

"Phil travels a lot for business," she said, dropping her pencil and rubbing her temples. Was I giving her a headache? She seemed so fragile. Had I really tapped out all her energy?

"And your mom sent you here so she could be with him," I assumed. If I was right, she wouldn't have to speak so much.

She stopped rubbing her temples to give me a sharp look, "She didn't send me here. I came on my own."

And that's where she lost me, and I had no idea how to bring up the sense of sadness she'd felt before. She just wasn't like humans. She was just not- Was Bella Swan not human? And if she wasn't, how could I tell? She couldn't be a vampire. She wasn't a werewolf-she smelled too good for either kind.

I felt silly for even thinking about it.

"I don't understand," I sighed.

"You think anyone does?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. She threw an arm over her eyes. "There are people who know a lot, and there are people who don't."

"Which are you?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I'm the weirdo who's not sure if I know something or not. And you?" She peeked out from under her arm and looked at me. I stared back, saying nothing. After a moment, she put her arm back.

"Hey, twitchy, can I get some ice?" she asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Cold hands are a sign of nervousness or poor circulation. Hand me, please."

I held out a hand, slightly relieved that she seemed to think of me as a human. She pressed it to her boiling forehead. I was careful not to touch her hair again. My throat was a rotissery oven. I could almost imagine the taste-

"My mom wanted to stay, but when I saw how much she missed him, I decided to come here," she was getting sad.

"But what about you?"

"What about me?" she asked, as though she was chopped liver and knew it. She was selfless. I felt like I'd seen her soul. I didn't think I could see her soul unless I was looking into her eyes.

"That isn't fair," I protested. Why should she sacrifice herself, delicate as she was?

"Life isn't fair," she said. Beneath her breath, if that was even possible, she hissed, "Stupid, crappy shampoo."

"You're suffering," I said unthinkingly. She reacted differently, her chin jerking forward a little.

"Why does it matter to you?" she demanded. The head pain seemed to make her ill-tempered.

She was better at getting to the heart of the matter than I was. For the most part, she was honest, and that seemed to help her. For some reason, she was more intuative than myself.

She was fascinating, and I felt that I was entering dangerous waters. I wanted to warn her, but my icy hand against her forehead seemed to be the best warning I could give her for the moment. Yet she didn't seem to feel the danger. She inhaled, and I wondered if my scent would do anything. A slight smile pricked at her full lips. Spectacular, she smiles at danger. Does she giggle at impending doom?

"Are you okay?" I asked, regarding her sanity.

She took my words all wrong. "Yeah. I kinda like Forks." I could hear the false note in her voice and how her voice caught a little.

"No, I mean, are you going to spew all over me or are you going to pay attention to Mr. Banner?" I lied.

She thought about it for a little while. It was long enough for me to wonder if she'd passed out.

"I'm thinking a good spewing would do you good."

I snorted. "Mr. Banner, Bella's sick."

"Tattle-tale," she hissed.

She tried to placate Mr. Banner, but he wasn't fooled. Mike volunteered to escort her to the nurse's office. As she gathered her things, she shot me a venomous glance. I smirked at her frail anger.

She was gone. I listened to Mike as he took her to the nurse's office. Then, I listened intently as a ride was arranged against Bella's wishes. Before the bell rang, she was off campus completely.

I ditched Spanish, hiding in my car. As my siblings passed by, I made sure to wave them on.

The CD playing did not soothe me like I'd been hoping it would. My mind kept drifting along campus. I accidently landed on Mike Newton's mind just as he was stewing over Biology.

_He never talkes to anyone. He's practically _gay_. Well, not anymore. Freak. He just _had _to take an interest in her. She was all 'I wonder what was with him last Monday'. He probably talked about fashion or something gay like that._

I frowned at his thoughts. Girls typically liked fashion, and they appreciated men who could listen to them chatter about it. If he listened once in a while, he might get a girlfriend. I was relieved by her lack of interest in our first meeting. Then, I returned to my mind wandering over campus.

And then, the world became blank.

You know what death smells like? Magnolias.

**Author's note: Please comment and send in suggestions. Even if you have nothing nice to say, it's still appreciated. TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Fire

4. Fire

I do not recall my human life very well. But I recall the fire that tore through my body. I remember it as clearly as any of my other vampire memories. There is nothing that could make me forget such pain. Not even death. Was that why I was burning now? Fire ripped across my skull. I could feel something familiar buzzing in the seemingly empty dome. It took me so long to pinpoint what it was.

Carlisle's thoughts. But when filtered through the fire's haze, I couldn't pinpoint the words. I don't know how long I stayed like that, caught in limbo. But eventually, I woke to the scent of wisteria.

Two chocolate-colored feline eyes bore into my own.

"Oh, you woke up," Bella said, "Carlisle said you were taking a nap." Her scent coated me. My throat demanded drink, and here she was. I began to sit up. Her boiling hand rested on my chest.

"Oh, no you don't," she insisted, pushing me down, "You're still sick from that attack."

"What attack?" I demanded.

"You got attacked by some beast out in the woods. Your whole family was pretty torn up about it."

I looked around. It was my house all right, but why was the girl here? I could hear her father in the other room. Drats, foiled again.

"Really?" I asked, ribbing my head. A very worried Alice collided with me, knocking me off the couch were I was laid. Her salutations were not verbal, but mental, and LOUD.

_I MISSED YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! EDWARD!!!! _she screeched. I pushed her off and stumbled to the kitchen where the adults were. Emse and Carlisle greeted me and I symbolically opened the fridge.

"Not before dinner," Esme chastised. In her mind, she said, _You've been asleep for almost a week. Since Bella is the only new thing in the routine, we thought inviting her over would help things. What happened?_

I shrugged as I shut the fridge. We all made idle conversation.

"So, how did you wake Edward up?" Carlisle asked. Bella looked up from her cup of broth.

"Family medicinal practices from my mother's side. It's all about circulation and streatching and such. Really, it's nothing. Any chiropractor could do the same thing," she murmured shyly. No, she was lying. No one could wake me from that Hell.

"Really? Why did you stick a wisteria blossom in his mouth?" Alice asked.

"It's just a superstition," Bella answered, turning bright red. "My Nana taught me most of what I know. There's a lot of...spiritual practice involved with it. It's a weird blend of European superstitions, Native American practices, and Buddism."

The topic of religeon was brought up and a huge debate broke out between Emmett and Jasper. Emmett was just egging Jasper on for a fight.

"We should get going. It's still a schoolnight," Charlie announced. He got to his feet, and Bella stood, too. My parents and I escorted to them to the door. I could hear Jasper and Emmett slipping out the back, both revved for a good fight. Rosalie and Alice sat at the table and sulked.

Before we got into the entranceway, I pulled Bella aside.

"You saved me," I stated, gazing deeply into her eyes.

"Yes, and I expect for you to do the same should a time arise," she said.

"How? How did you save me from _that_?"

Realization flared in her eyes. She turned her face from me, "It's nothing. I just made your blood circulate through your body better. You know, you should think about yoga. It's very calming and-"

I nearly slammed my fist against the wall.

"How did you save me," I hissed. She peeked at the arm.

"Are you trying to be sexy? Or are you being serious? I honestly can't tell," she said with all conviction.

"I'm serious."

She thought it over for a moment. Then, she decided, "In ledgend, I create the world. In reality, I create a world of my own. I pray my hourglass never runs out."

"I don't want riddles."

"A riddle that describes your kind well would be something like 'In stories, I am sexy and cold. In reality, I eat your lovers. I never have to worry about time cuz I have it all'. Am I right or what?"

I jerked away from her. She skipped out the door with her father.

Carlisle and Esme turned to me with haunted gazes.

"What sort of riddle is that?" Rosalie spat, "And she knows about us!"

"And we know about her," I said, "What stories have mythical creatures create the world?" My fire, determination and curiosity, were purning like twin pillars of light. I wouldn't stop at anything to find out what she was.


	5. Hourglass

Chapter 5: Hourglass

Whatever she was, her scent drove me mad. I wasn't really thirsty, but I couldn't risk killing her, so I hunted again, this time ripping open birds and fish. I couldn't have the hunters noticing a great absence of deer.

_I__n legend, I create the world. In reality, I create a world of my own. I pray my hourglass never runs out._

_What the hell does that mean? _I wondered, crouching on a rock. A few hundred birds lay around me. There were too many creation myths. Too many time legends. I picked fish scales out of my teeth.

"I'm completely lost," Carlisle groaned, snapping the book shut. The whole family had taken to mythology, reading about creatures we'd never heard of. Nothing fit right, just as the vampire canon didn't quite fit vampires right.

"She's toying with us," I said, pulling out a fish bone. How did _that _get there? I crushed it to powder between my fingers. "No. She's not in control...She wants us to play with her. But what's the game?"

"The game is 'find the needle in the pile of scrap metal'," Carlisle sighed, looking around at the carnage I'd left. I looked up at him. We paused, taking in what he saw on my face. My eyes had changed radically from gold to a silvery jade.

_That's unexpected_, Carlisle thought, taking a closer look. _Was it the blood? I don't think those fish had mercury in them-_

As he mused over the possibilities of my eyes, I considered Bella. I'd misconstrued her reactions. She wasn't afraid of me because she was a faulty human. Not at all. She was inhuman. Assuming she was strong and could hold her own, she'd have little reason to fear me.

That explained the visions. How first Alice had seen Bella with a broken arm. Then the injury with a slash down her back. Bella _could_ hold her own. I hadn't been in the vision because she'd done something to me. Probably ripped off my arms and legs.

Carlisle and I looked at my mess. It was too chaotic to leave for spring. I could smell wolves nearby, hesitant at the stench of vampire

_Bury them?_ he wondered.

"We'll leave them," I said, nodding towards the far end of the clearing. A wolf pup yipped at his mother, begging for the bodies. Carlisle and I left, allowing the wolves to descend.

Emmett and Jasper had filled me in on the past two days. Alice hadn't seen what had caused me to black out, but she'd seen me laying in the Volvo, unmoving. They'd taken me home immediately, nearly pulling Carlisle from the middle of heart surgery.

My family had tried reviving me all the usual ways – even having Carlisle re-bite me. But nothing came of it. It had been Esme who'd thought of Bella and invited the girl and her father over.

I'd been out with some foreign illness Jasper and Emmett had cooked up and convinced the office of. I'd go back to school in the morning, pretending to be on the mend.

When I got home, Alice was focusing very hard on the future. She looked up at me, visions of the future mixed with her thought, _You're going to school_.

"I have to," I said, "Unless I have to leave. How does today look?"

We looked into the future together. Today blurred with the next few months. Shadowy figures mingled with me. I sparkled in the sun, metal coils and shadows around me.

_Something's going to change today_, she thought, _There's too many futures. They won't settle._

"Well, you tell me when that happens," I chuckled, going into my room. My clothes were a mess from my inexperience in eating fish and fowl. Every time I'd bitten into them, they'd practically exploded.

As I changed clothes, I pondered what Alice had seen. Those metal coils reminded me of the ones I'd seen in Bella's thoughts. In fact, they were identical. A black iron rod surrounded by a stainless steel helix. Or something like that. There weren't good details in either case.

So Bella was connected with them somehow. I turned to my windows and picked up a dry-erase marker from my bag. I wrote 'METAL COILS' down. Then, I added the quote from last night. This I followed with her hair, how it was thicker, longer, and not to be touched. Did her strange moving thoughts and quiet-room silence have anything to do with what she was? Either way, I added it to the list.

Slowly, I added one thing after another to the window, trying to puzzle out what was useful and what was a show for the humans.

"Time for school," Esme said at normal volume downstairs. I picked up my schoolbag and headed downstairs, ready to take notes about the girl for today.

I searched the parking lot for Bella.

She was a few cars down from me. I watched as she tested the slickness of the ground and clutched her truck for extra support. She didn't head for the school, instead going to the rear of her truck and leaning down. She stared at something there. A smile brightened on her face. Was it the snowchains on her tires? Perhaps I could go over to her, ask her more about what she was. Or if she needed a hand. After all, she seemed to be unsteady on the ice. She hadn't fallen yet, but she kept wavering, as though she was unused to walking.

"What?" Alice gasped. I checked her thoughts. A van would hit the ice and hurtle towards Bella. And yet...she would miss the collision. I couldn't quite see how. There was a flash of metal that rocketed Bella into a snowbank. Minor injuries. She clutched her side-

I pulled out of the vision in time to see the van hit the ice. The screeching tires made her look up, slightly interested look in her eyes. Before I could really think about it, I was beside her, towing her away from the intended path of the car.

Pain lanced through my arms. I choked back the scream. When I looked down, I had holes in my arms. They healed quickly, but _still_. That _hurt_.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Bella demanded. As she asked it, Tyler Crowly's car made impact with her bumper. She jumped a full two feet into the air, heart hammering. Her eyes were wide and searching.

"You...," she said, her expression a little lost. Then it hardened, "You _idiot_! Someone could've seen!"

Bystanders rushed to Tyler's aid. I could hear 911 getting dialed on cell phones.

"But no one did," I pointed out. I looked down at my arms pointedly. They were still healing. I had a large cavity filling in.

"Don't grab me suddenly," Bella snapped, "I don't like it. Besides, you trapped my hair. It's very uncomfortable when you can't turn your head."

Speaking of, her hair wasn't as straight as it had been before I'd pulled her out of the way. It was curled in places – especially in the front. She watched the tragedy before us playing out. Tyler was a bit cut up and bruised; nothing a few bandages and bed rest couldn't handle.

"Did you curl your hair this morning?" I asked.

"No," she said, pulling the lock of wavy hair down so she could see it better, "Funny. I don't remember getting it wet. Must be the air."

Funny how Bella's mouth said one thing, but her eyes told me it was a lie. She strode off to class, tossing those long locks back over her shoulder.

Lunch was a frenzy of gossip. People argued whether he'd died from blood loss. It hadn't been that bad. His blood had been the stench of garbage next to Bella's wisteria scent.

No one had noticed Bella almost getting hit. And no one had noticed me pulling her out of the way. I watched Bella getting the news from Jessica. I could see relief in her eyes – our collective secret was safe. My siblings hadn't been so nice. Rosalie had been worst, yelling at me with every curse in every language she knew.

"He pulled you out of the way?" Jessica asked. Bella nodded.

"I guess you didn't see me," Bella explained, "I was in front of my truck, and he pulled me onto the sidewalk so it didn't bump me."

_What? What were you doing with him?_ Jessica thought, _And why did he pull you away? What did it feel like to have his hands on your body? Oh, _sa-woon_._

"Did that monster truck of yours actually move?" Jessica asked.

"It jumped the curb," Bella said, "But it'll still run."

"So...what were you two talking about?" Jessica asked.

"Talking about? Oh, no, he was just passing by on the way to class," Bella lied. She wasn't the greatest liar. But the shake in her voice could easily be from nearly getting "bumped" by a truck. I looked down at my arms. The wounds were long gone, but I had little holes in my shirt.

The metal coils were definitely connected to the girl. And they could puncture vampire skin. I'd warned the others not to surprise Bella. Emmett was thinking about doing it anyway, just to see how strong she was. I almost wanted him to do it, to see how it worked, what she was.

"Wanna skip next hour?" Jessica asked, "With the crash today, we'll get away with it."

Bella thought about it. Wherever she was going, so was I. I was going to reveal all her secrets, from the metal coils to her cat eyes to that cryptic riddle.

"I don't know," Bella said, "People tend to notice the sheriff's daughter go missing."

That was very true. Good girl.

"C'mon, Bella, we can go to Port Angeles," Jessica said. In her mind, she wondered why Bella was being a goodie two shoes.

"I'd love to, but I'd rather not get in another fight with my dad," Bella said, "You can go on without me."

"Whatever," Jessica snapped, turning to Lauren for a skipping partner.

She fought with her father? What was the dispute about? Of course, as the parent, Charlie had probably won. Or maybe it was unresolved. I wanted to go over there and ask her myself. Then again, I'd get her all to myself in the next hour.

I sat back, waiting for lunch to end, then grateful when it did. I chased after her, keeping distance between us. She was waiting there, doodling in her sketchbook. I sat down, looking at it. It was the one of the two people in a meadow. The girl had been moved down to the man's level. They were holding hands, looking into each other's eyes.

"So, your hair is straight again," I said.

"And your eyes are silver. How do eyes turn from silver to gold?" she asked.

"How did you puncture my skin?" I asked. "Give me a hint. Anything"

"Japan, Italy, West Africa...Greece," she said. Then she started to think, "North America...well, America in general. All of them have legends of us. Actually, in some respects, you're considered something of a cousin."

"Cousin," I said. So we had similarities of some kind. And now I had a destination.

"Yes, but honestly, I think we're really quite different," Bella murmured. I flipped open my textbook and paused on a page, the cover shielding the contents from my lab partner. On the page was a black widow spider. A spider with an hourglass.

If I remembered correctly, there were quite a few Native American legends depicting the all-mother to be a kind of spider woman. And wasn't there a spider-seductress in Japan? Although, there were usually common themes from country to country, but what other creature created the world and also had an hourglass?

I turned the book to Bella. She wasn't paying attention to me, instead, taking careful, meticulous notes. I tapped the page, but she didn't look at me. I grit my teeth. Fine, I'd do more research before bothering her.

Biology let out, and Bella took off to her next class quickly, still ignoring me. I made my way to Spanish to join Emmett.

_Rose's on a rampage_, Emmett thought, _I'm no mind reader but..._

I got an image of Rosalie dumping gas on my Aston Martin Vanquish and setting it on fire.

"Probably," I muttered. He chuckled.

Suddenly, I wished I had skipped class. This wasn't just about the legend – it was also about the animal. I couldn't just assume it was a spider. That would be too easy.

_Jasper wants a good explanation_, Emmett thought, interrupting my tangent, _He's pretty resolved on the matter._

In that moment, I wanted to rip Jasper apart. How dare he even _think_ about that? How could he try and kill Bella. She wasn't human – she needed secrecy just as much as the rest of us. The pencil in my hand shattered, turning to powder in my hand.

Emmett gripped my elbow.

_EDWARD! Stop it, man!_ He bellowed. His superior strength kept me in my chair. I could hear it groan a little under strain. I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. It took a few moments.

_He's not gunna do it until we talk_, Emmett pointed out, _He's not gunna try anything at school, so chill._

The reminder helped. A little.

Only the teacher had seen our silent exchange, but she didn't make much of it. After all, the Cullens were freaks. Smart freaks, but still.

Emmett let me go, keeping an eye on me.

_You okay?_ He asked. I shook my head, the muscles tense and unwilling to move.

I reviewed the standings. Jasper and I were evenly matched in a fight. With Rosalie and Emmett siding with him, I'd be outnumbered. Esme and Carlisle wouldn't join in the fray, but they'd try and calm us, get us to talk it out. Alice would side with the winner...

Bella. She had defenses of her own, I knew that. And the others knew not to surprise her – that meant Jasper would use his powers to calm her. But she could no doubt control them on command. Would Alice side with us? That would stall Jasper – maybe even stop him completely.

Would that save her?


End file.
